Yesterday, photographer Michelle Lynn Hampton was banned from Facebook for 24 hours after posting this photo of a black woman sharing a tender moment with her newborn baby and toddler son. The photo was taken a few hours after the woman had given birth.

Photo: HamptonRoadsBirthPhotographer.com

Michelle Lynn Hampton is a photographer based in Hampton Roads Virginia who specializes in birth photography. She captures beautiful candid moments between mothers, babies and families. Most would consider her work to be authentic and breathtaking, but Facebook believes that her work violates their guidelines. Hampton took to her personal blog to vent about her frustration in regard to being banned and she made several valid points.

“This moment between her two sons was labeled as excess skin or pornography. Facebook says in their guidelines that nudity is against Facebook standards and that if there are private areas showing that the image will be deleted and you can be banned from Facebook. What I am having trouble with here is the amount of skin that is showing is less than when someone takes a picture in a bikini. This is just not a image to show off a mom who is laying naked in her bed after birth. This is to show the tender moments right after her labor when her oldest son gets to meet his new little brother. This image says so many words that are more gentle and profound than half of the videos going viral on Facebook.”

Hampton then refers to the countless videos that go viral everyday – kids fighting, racists jokes and memes that are never deleted or banned. Unfortunately, Hampton is not alone in this situation. Many photographers get banned from Facebook for the “nudity” in birth photos, which Facebook categorizes as sexually explicit.

I just want everyone to see that birth is normal. It is not something that is pornography or explicit content. We need to open our eyes to the beauty that this world has in it. Birth being one of the most beautiful things because we all had to be born to be here.